1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to modular magnetic card readers/writers, to be installed in associated mechanisms, and pertains, more particularly to a modular reader/writer assembly. The modular assembly is capable of reading cards of various sizes and configurations without modifications, and readily adapts to various path length constraints of associated mechanisms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic card read/write assemblies are traditionally configured to accept one size card only. Applications requiring acceptance of multiple card sizes would require multiple readers. Further, cards having magnetic data encoded on different tracks are generally not processed by a single read/write assembly. Finally, applications requiring a specific card path length in order to allow ejection of the card into the associated mechanism require custom design and construction of a read/write assembly.
An object of this invention is to provide a magnetic card read/write apparatus in which magnetic cards of different sizes can be read or written on without modification of the apparatus.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a magnetic card read/write apparatus capable of reading magnetic data encoded on different card tracks without modification of the apparatus.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a modular read/write assembly to provide customized path lengths with the use of basic components.